Docking State Office Building Nominated for National Historic Register

Docking State Office Building Nominated for National Historic Register

Article excerpt

In response to attempts by Gov. Sam Brownback to have the Docking
State Office Building demolished, a historic preservation group has
nominated the building to be placed on the National Register of
Historic Places.

If that was to happen, any attempt to demolish or significantly
alter the building would need to be approved by Topeka's governing
body.

The Docking building has architectural and historic significance,
the Kansas Preservation Alliance said in a nomination submitted to
the Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review, which plans to consider
it April 30, said Mel Borst, a board member for the preservation
alliance.

The nomination said the building, completed in 1957, "Retains all
aspects of integrity to clearly communicate the mid-century era in
which it was constructed and its elevated importance as a building
associated with state government."

It added that the structure was the first state building in
Kansas in which the steel frame was connected using welded bolts
instead of rivets, and was "one of the earliest buildings in the
region to use an aluminium and glass curtain wall."

The governor appoints the 11 volunteer professionals who serve on
the review board that will consider the historic register
nomination.

More information about that body can be found at https://
www.kshs.org/p/historic-sites-board-of-review/14601.

The nomination comes at a time when Brownback has been seeking
for more than a year to arrange for the building at 915 S.W.
Harrison to be imploded.

Brownback on Friday vetoed a bill that would have blocked the
governor from taking future action to implode the building. The
Senate had passed the bill 40-0 and the House passed it 121-1.

The Topeka Landmarks Commission plans to consider submitting
comments to the state review board regarding the Docking Building
when it meets at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the first-floor conference
room at the city's Holliday Building, 620 S.E. Madison, said Bill
Fiander, the city's planning director.

"At this point, the city's only role in this process per our
agreement with (the State Historic Preservation Office) is to have
the Landmarks Commission comment on the application before the State
Board of Review decides on the matter later in April," Fiander said.

He said the state review board would decide whether to add the
building to the state register, and forward the application to the
National Park Service to consider listing it on the national
register.

The nomination may proceed to the NPS even if the state rejects
it, Fiander said.

He said anyone may nominate a public building to the National
Register through the State Historic Preservation Office, even if the
owner objects. The Docking building is owned by the State of Kansas. …